Kosovo, A Secret Garden: Final Producer’s Note by Kara Mckenzie
From January to May, The University of Texas team of Students of the World drew on all of our resources to research the uncharted region of Kosovo thoroughly, even going so far as to interview Kosovars that attend UT. Despite our efforts, we still lacked an organic sense of what Kosovo was; we lacked an image. So, we focused our energy on brainstorming the best way to serve our partner, Rev Europe, a portfolio company of MPower Ventures based in Austin with a mission to create financial services to underserved communities.
On June 1, 2010 after fundraising and meticulously planning, we finally arrived at a tiny airport in Prishtina, Kosovo. From our first few moments in Kosovo, the organic image I craved and our partner needed began to form. On the cab drive from the airport to our new home at the Professor’s Guest House, we were met with generosity, red poppies and yellow wild flowers swaying in the lush green landscape of hills and mountains. Imagine our delight when we discovered we would be working in a beautiful land with even more beautiful and generous people.
It was fresh — in more ways than one. The country is full of young entrepreneurs inventing ways to excel and build their country into all that it can be. Not to discount the work that still must be done, but it is truly amazing all that has been achieved after only two years of independence.
Our main task was to interview Kosovars about the Ipko card, a prepaid debit card that provides financial services previously unavailable to them. These services include the ability to shop online shopping and a functionality called Yap, an affordable and fair way to transfer money through cell phones. In addition to all that, our partners who have never set foot in Kosovo needed a first-hand account of the community they are servicing.
We had to find a way to distill and condense complex financial issues like remittances, foreign direct investors, idiosyncrasies in international banking programs and more into a concise Clinton Global Initiative video. With the help of a translator, we worked off a list of over 350 Ipko card users, calling each individually to set up interviews.
When we made those cold calls, they were answered with warm interest that would often result in a meeting — what we called a “date” — over macchiatos in one of the country’s numerous cafes. We did this all over Kosovo, from Prishtina, the capital city, to Peja, to Prizren and beyond. People were eager to help in our goal of documenting their stories and sharing what we found with the world.
Our stay came to a close after a month of diligent and life altering work. Now we’re back in the States, editing videos, writing articles and posting pictures all in an effort to share the image we have of Kosovo.
To me, as a newly independent nation, Kosovo exists in a unique area of growth. It is a space of young entrepreneurs creating new ways to support their local economy while pushing their roots into the global economy. This garden is in need of better caretakers, though, to remove the weeds of nepotism that scourge some aspects of business and government in Kosovo — a sentiment shared with us by Kosovars nearly everyday.
With new political leadership and more foreign direct investment from companies like Rev, the weeds will recede. Through our documentation and dissemination of images and truths with platforms like the CGI conference, Kosovo will continue to grow and attract more companies to invest in their country — a land ripe with possibilities.
Written by Kara Mckenzie, Producer of the UT Chapter of Students of the World.
